Sunday Afternoon in the Country

Along with her sisters, Stettheimer graciously hosted social gatherings for New York avant-garde cultural luminaries. These events often provided subject matter for her paintings, which brim with incidental detail. This example pays homage to a weekend picnic held at the family’s summer home on the banks of the Hudson River. In the background at the upper right, Stettheimer works at her easel; in the foreground at lower left, photographer Edward Steichen poses and snaps the seated figure of artist Marcel Duchamp.

Dismissed as not being serious art in their day, almost all of Stettheimer’s paintings remained unsold upon her death. Afterward, the artist’s sister Ettie - seen here wearing a red coat standing behind Duchamp with her arms outstretched - donated many of them to various museums, including
this work.